Grand Expectations
by The Qing
Summary: Luffy must join forces with an unlikely ally to stop a mad mysterios captain from ruining both their reputations.
1. Rip

One Piece: Grand Expectations By The Qing  
  
Part 1 Rip  
  
A strange vessel rested under the waves of the turbulent ocean. From a distance it seemed to be a wrecked ship. But on closer inspection one would see the eerie red eyes, rusted metallic hull, and sharp jagged spears poking out in the front would think otherwise.  
  
Inside of it, an even stranger crew worked. Each one was both faceless (except for one visor eye) and had no signs of emotion. The crew worked silently fixing the ship. A large majority of them maintained a machines that looked liked crosses between depth charges and pressure cookers. While another operated the controls.  
  
The ship's bottom opened and 2 robotic claws went deep into the murky depths of the ocean. After a few minutes the claws lifted up back into the ship, in them bountiful amounts of strange looking fruit. They retracted back into the ship and dumped their load. Then they went back down to scoop more fruit.  
  
A lone, armored figure sat on a black throne facing a large window that showed the underwater marvels that surrounded the craft. Though this would fascinate any other person it ceased to amaze him. In front of him was the crewman who steered the boat itself. A digital map appeared on the window. "Captain, we have reached our target. What course of action should we take?" the helmsman announced in a rusty voice. The armored figure looked up and sure enough the objective was there. He raised his hand and said. "Sink it."  
  
The underwater ship drew the claws back into it's hull. The Depth Charge engines whirred with life. But most of all the spikes in the front grew 10 ft. longer. The monstrosity surfaced then charged at the target at full velocity. And the splintering wood was heard. "Submerge." The captain ordered. The sink dived back into the water. Leaving only remains of the wreck to sink as well.  
  
The captain looked at the sinking ship pieces descend into the watery abyss. Until he saw something that caught his eye. A flag. But not just any flag. It was the picture of a smiling Jolly Roger (f.y.i: skull and crossbones flag) wearing a straw hat. He chuckled. "And so ends the illustrious career of 'Straw Hat' Luffy." He laughed maniacally as his ship swam away from the scene of the crime.

Next Part: Up The Creek


	2. Up the Creek

Part 2 Up the Creek  
  
The remains of the "Go Merry" were swept away by the waves. The submersible warship had shattered the base of the famous Monkey D. Luffy. The fate of the crew was unknown. The scene offered no answer, except the lonely hum from someone in the crow's nest (or what was left of it.)  
  
Luffy ended the hum with a long sigh. It had seemed like days instead of hours since it was his turn for crow's nest duty. In the storm he dozed off, silently complaining about getting wet. He had no idea the crow's nest would have saved his life.  
  
Now, looking upon the ruins of his ship he wondered what had happened to his crew. Had they survived the assault? Or had they perished as the ship did? He hoped it was his first guest. "Though they could have drowned..." he thought. "No! They were tougher than that! They were all too strong and determined to be beaten by something as silly as a storm to die! Right?" he concluded to himself. As he looked for something to paddle with he shuddered as he remembered a warning someone told him. Ten years ago. "The sea can kill you in a thousand ways."  
  
After arguing with himself for a few minutes. Luffy took a large, floating piece of debris and started rowing the crow's nest somewhere... (Okay! He doesn't know where he's going)  
  
Within days Luffy had only gotten as far as 20 miles. Before he fainted because of exhaustion and hunger. After all this time he started to lose hope. "My crewmates didn't survive, I'm just fooling myself. I guess I'm not going to live either. To become the Pirate King..." he groaned as he saw a huge shark charging at him. "I'll never accomplish my dream, or see my friends' accomplish theirs." He touched his hat and remembered Shanks. But then for some strange reason he stood up with new energy. He wouldn't break his promise with Shanks! He looked at the 40ft. shark come at him. As if seeing it for the first time, he grinned. "Gum..." He'd live to see Sanji reach "All Blue". He'd live to congratulate Zoro for beating Mihawk. (Making Zoro the greatest swordsman in the world.) He'd live to try Chopper's miraculous medicines. "Gum..." he said as he brought his fist back. He'd live to use Nami's world map. He'd live to see Usopp be the bravest hero imaginable. He'd live to wonder at Robin's incredible ancient knowledge. But most of all... "Pistol!!!" his fist stretched and punched the shark so hard it flew towards the horizon. He'd live to be the Pirate king.  
  
Now filled with motivation Luffy paddled onward knowing that he'd find his friends and that they'd all accomplish their dreams. Eventually...  
  
Author Note: To "The Rogue Shadow"  
Sorry if you think I copied your "Even Though You Think I Am" idea in my second to the last paragraph (It was just that good). I hope you don't mind. Thanks for your review. Tell me what you think.

Author Note 2: Is it "Gomu Gomu Pistol"? Or "Gum Gum Pistol"? (I sometimes get confused.)

Next Part: Sign Language

R&R 


	3. Sign Language

Part 3 Sign Language  
  
Luffy hummed to himself as he rowed happily. Knowing that somehow his crew had survived. He could feel it. As he came near an isthmus (A water form that separates 2 forms of land) surrounded by mountain ranges he shouted. "NAMI!!! ZORO!!! ANYONE THERE?!" Hearing no reply he decided to row in another direction. But he stopped, when he heard an echo from the other side of the isthmus. "Luff...don...ere!"  
  
Recognizing the voice as Nami's he started paddling it's origin. "HANG ON NAMI!!! I'M COMING TO SAVE YOU!!!" he shouted. A few minutes later he heard yet another echo. "Gt...wy...hre!" This one sounded like Zoro. He yelled back. "ZORO'S WITH YOU TOO?? GREAT!! I'M GONNA SAVE YOU BOTH!!!"  
  
Luffy kept on paddling to the other side. It was still a long way from him though... However, he wondered how far away he was from his friends. He brought out binoculars and looked through them. He jumped with joy as he saw a ship in the distance. On it he saw the figures of Nami and Zoro waving at him. Unfortunately his celebration didn't last long, as his jump had made a hole in the crow's nest, slowly filling it with water. Luffy winced temporarily but smiled. "I was going to slow anyway." As his 'boat' was sinking, Luffy stretched his left arm to the left mountain and his right to the right mountain. "Gomu Gomu Rocket!!!" Just as it sank Luffy catapulted himself from the crow's nest towards the ship. Still 'flying' towards his destination Luffy looked through his binoculars again. Nami and Zoro were waving at him furiously shouting as they waved. "Luffy...get...here!" "COMING!!!" he shouted back.  
  
Luffy zoomed too the ship headfirst, with surprising speed. Eventually he no longer needed the binoculars to see the ship. At first it was a dot on the horizon. But as time went on, it appeared to have increased in size. Luffy took another look through the binoculars. His grin fell as he saw Nami and Zoro weren't on deck anymore. In their stead were 3 men holding a large, open, metal barrel in his direction. After figuring out was happening Luffy said. "Uh-oh..." (He figured out it was a trap) Despite his efforts he found himself unable to change his course. Thanks to his momentum Luffy crashed into the barrel. One of the men slammed a lid over it. Luffy (now in the barrel) thought to himself. "Maybe Nami and Zoros' sign language didn't mean 'Come over here'. Maybe it meant 'Get away.' Oh well... Least I'm not sinking anymore..."

Next Part: Parler(to speak)


	4. Parle

Part 4 Parle

Luffy struggled to free himself from the barrel by using his devil fruit powers, but to no avail. It seemed the barrel was made out of seastone. (Seastone is a strange metal that neutralizes devil fruit powers.) All of a sudden he felt the barrel being lifted. "Hey! Anybody out there!" he shouted. His question fell upon deaf ears. That and no could here him since he was inside of a metal barrel. He waited until the carrier stopped. He could feel the barrel being put down. Luffy heard the locks of the barrel clicking as they disengaged. Afterwards the lid was lifted. Luffy slowly rose from the barrel only to be greeted by a flurry of knives coming right at him.

Luffy ducked back into the barrel, barely avoiding the knives. They whizzed over him and imbedded in the wall. "Hey what was that for!" he shouted. As soon as he dodged all of them he heard an all too familiar laugh coming from in front of him. He looked out of the barrel and saw an old enemy.

Buggy the Clown sat across Luffy's barrel with an amused smile on his face. "So we meet again Monkey D. Luffy! It's been awhile." But instead of replying, Luffy just stared at him. Buggy stared back at Luffy too. This went on for a few minutes until Luffy announced.

"Oh yeah. You're that clown guy right? What's your name again?"

Buggy was outraged. "You mean you don't remember!" Luffy thought for a minute.

"You're name's Boogie right?"

"IT'S BUGGY!" Buggy shouted as he drew a knife from his coat. He was about to fling it at Luffy but put it down instead. "Okay Luffy, you're wondering why you're here, right?" Buggy inquired tensely.

"Because you're men put me in a barrel and brought me here?" he replied. Buggy cringed.

"That and I wanted to show you these." Buggy said, as he put 3 pieces of paper on the desk for Luffy to see.

They were wanted posters. Luffy stretched his neck to look at them. One of them was his. However, instead of the usual 100 million berries reward for his capture. There was a whopping 300 million berries reward! He turned it over and saw another pirate's wanted poster. The reward for this buccaneer was 110 million berries. Luffy asked "Who's this ugly guy?"

"That's me you rubber ingrate!" Buggy said.

"But you used to be worth 15 million berries right."

"Well I've been beating some high level pirates... but that's not the point! Look at the third poster!" Luffy looked at the last piece of paper. Sure enough it was another wanted sign but with a very strange outlaw.

Wanted Poster Picture: A question mark. Wanted Poster Message: The Navy has placed a 50 million berry bounty on anyone who possesses devil fruit powers.

Luffy realized that 'anyone' could even mean Chopper would be hunted down. And he didn't really seem like the convict type. "Do you want to know why they made this crazy poster? Do ya'?" Buggy interrogated. Luffy shook his head in response. "Well Luffy allow me to tell you. Though the story's kind of long..."

Author's Note: So, what do you think? Please review.

Next Part: The Black Abyss


	5. The Black Abyss

Part 5 The Black Abyss  
  
2 weeks ago...  
  
An armada of 40 navel ships sailed towards the hideout of the notorious pirate Capt. Ket Mane. After years of escaping from the marines, the insane buccaneer would be put into custody. However Ket was not one to be underestimated. In an act of caution the only one of the many ships was docked in the pirate's port for reconnaissance. Ket's base was a large stone warehouse. It was speculated that it was surrounded by booby traps and land mines. And that at each of it's windows had a sniper ready to fire. So many rumors were said about this secret base, though few were true. But the navy's soldiers were about to find out there were booby traps. Broken traps that is.  
  
Someone had gotten there before them. Giant holes in the ground signified where the land mines had been. Spikes on the floor were flattened. The decaying corpses of attack dogs were sprawled throughout the area. Huge cannons lay decimated at the Marines' feet. And over burnt ashes were the remains of a huge iron gate.  
  
Rifles ready the Marines went inside the base. It was pitch black. One of them found a light switch. They were shocked at what the light showed.  
  
The crew of Ket Mane lay dead before them. Some were pinned to the walls with swords. The snipers were holding their necks as if they choked to death. On an embroidered chair, was the skeleton of Capt. Ket Mane.  
  
As the marines investigated the base, one of them ventured forth to Ket's corpse. It was garbed in what was left of a red jacket. The apparent source of death was being impaled by some sort of spike. The marine found a scrap of paper in the dead man's grip. Prying it from his hand, the officer saw it was an old drawing of an armored man in a mask.  
  
Another marine saw a tunnel in the other end of the warehouse. He separated from the rest of the group. He could here a soft whirring sound from the inside of the cave. All of a sudden 4 steel tentacles binded him. He screamed as they dragged him into the darkness.  
  
Hearing the scream, the marines ran out of the base in a panic. When they were out they saw a shadowy figure crash through the roof. It was as if his feet were spring loaded. He gracefully landed right in front of them. He glared at them before outstretched his hands at the ships. "Sizzle Dragon..."  
  
His arm emitted a huge bolt of electricity that shot up to the sky. It slowly descended in a curling fashion before turning into a dragon. (Like Eneru's attack.) It charged through the hulls of the Marine ships, sinking them as it did. Then the dragon spewed blasts of fire upon the vessels. Before it disappeared into nothingness.  
  
The stranger grunted "Spring Sinker..." as he took a tremendous leap towards a pack of ships. Each ship he jumped on instantly capsized. Some exploded. He laughed on top of a sunken ship's mast, purveying his handiwork.  
  
19 ships were destroyed in the assault. The remaining half had gotten wise to his exploits and readied their defenses. However nothing could have prepared them for what happened next.  
  
One of the soldiers saw a shift in the water. While everyone else was aiming their guns and cannons at the armored man, none saw the spiked bow rise from the depths of the ocean. The soldier pointed at the sight in shock. "The Black Abyss!!!!!"  
  
It was too late for a warning. In a few minutes the rest of the fleet was destroyed. Except one...  
  
4 days later...  
  
A plaque was put on Ket's beach.  
  
Message: This plaque is to commemorate the 39 of the 40 ships and their crews that were destroyed by the captain of the Black Abyss. 600,000,000 berries to the one that destroys the Black Abyss.

Next Part: We Now Return Too...


	6. We Now Return Too

Part 6 Our Regular Program

(The Present)

Buggy finished his story. "Meaningless to say, the captain of the Black Abyss could be anyone. But he's got devil fruit powers. The Marines are pretty certain of that." Buggy announced. Luffy finally understood. "So that's why they put up that ridiculous devil fruit bounty!" "Great, you got it." Buggy pronounced dryly. Despite this newfound knowledge, Luffy was still confused. "But why did your bounty and mine shoot up so much." He inquired "Because we helped him."

A stunned silence followed. "What do you mean?" Buggy seemed reluctant to answer. "Well, at the end of a violent battle the navy had the Black Abyss trapped. It was bobbing n the water like a child's playtoy. The head marine was about to signal the ships to finish it off but then... He was punched off the ship... by a kid with a straw hat." He paused. "Then another officer fell off. This time he was stabbed. By a clown."

"That's weird, why would I punch that guy?" Luffy asked. "That's not the point!" Buggy shouted. "Some wackos have been copying my face and yours! And getting us blamed to boot!" "Oh... That's weird, why would anyone want to copy your huge nose?" Luffy wondered. "WHAT WAS THAT!!!!!!??????" Buggy burst. He removed the knife from the table. "Bara Bara Can..." he hesitated. "You're just lucky I need you to prove my innocence. Otherwise you'd be dead by now!" "But why would you want to be proved innocent? I mean it did boost your reputation." Luffy answered in disbelief. Buggy gasped in shock. "Are you daft? The entire navy's after my head for assisting the Black Abyss! The Marines were 'this close' to finishing off one of their greatest threat and they blew it! Worst of all, those chumps think we did it. They might even sick the 7 Armed Seas on me! I'm a dead man if I can't prove I didn't do it!"

"Hey Buggy, you never got around to telling me why I'm here." Luffy reminded. Buggy didn't seem to hear him. "The Black Abyss is a powerful monster that's haunted the sea for years. They say it docks in a hidden island yet to be found by any young charter. It can disappear for a day or for as long as a year without anyone noticing. The captain I assume is incredibly powerful. To defeat him and find the copies of ourselves I'll need some help from a strong ally. Monkey D. Luffy! Will you help me rid the oceans of that monster and clear our names?!" "No thanks." Luffy replied blandly.

"WHAT??!! WHY NOT??!!" "It's not my problem." "ARE YOU A FOOL??!! THEY'RE GONNA COME AFTER YOU TOO!!!" Buggy pointed out. "Don't care. I'll just clobber them." Luffy looked away. Buggy got on his knees. "C'MON MAN I NEED HELP!! I'LL GIVE YOU ANYTHING!!" Buggy pleaded. "Like what?" Luffy asked. "Gold?" Buggy offered. "Got that." Luffy said. "Jewels?" "Got that." "Money?" "Got that." "Uhhh... Gold?" "Didn't you already say that?"

"Alright a favor then, how's that" Buggy begged. Luffy thought for a moment. "Okay I'll help you. But on 2 conditions." "And what would those be." Buggy questioned tensely. "1. After we beat this guy up you'll leave me and my crew unharmed. And 2, you owe me another favor." Luffy announced. "Done and done." Buggy got up and lifted something of his desk. "What's that?" Luffy wondered out loud. "Well I can't risk you escaping, can I?" Before Luffy could say anything Buggy slammed the lid of the barrel over his head. Buggy hummed as he locked the barrel and threw it in the brig.

Next Part: Out With Friends

Author Note: Are you all okay with Buggy being the "unlikely ally"? Am I doing a good job so far? Thanks a lot!


End file.
